Glacier: Day One
Getting to stay at Glacier National Park was not on our original itinerary. Now having been there, I could not imagine skipping it! We've seen some incredible places throughout our travels, but none of them were quite as breathtaking as Glacier. We had originally planned to visit our friends Aaron and Nora who live temporarily in Bozeman, Montana. Aaron and Ty went through grad school at UCSB, and share many ridiculously good memories together. When we told Aaron when we would be arriving into Montana, he told us that he and Nora had already reserved campgrounds at Glacier for that weekend and asked if we wanted to come along. The timing could not have been more perfect, and we jumped at the chance to camp with them. The drive from Yellowstone to Glacier was long since Glacier is way up in the North-West corner of Montana, very near the Canadian border. The moment we arrived into that mountains forest full of pine trees, we knew the long haul was worth it. We pulled into Fish Creek campground at dusk, right when Aaron and Nora were cooking their dinner atop the crackling fire. We were both struck by the beauty of the campsite itself, as it was tucked among the towering pine trees and a stones throw away from the turquoise waters of Lake McDonald. It felt great to be camping with great people, and we had a special moment when they met Noah for the first time. It's always a cool moment to watch when long-time friends who we've known through earlier times of our life, meet our son. Ty and I have countless memories of hanging out on State Street with Aaron from before we were even engaged. Now he was meeting our son, and we were "all grown up" about to camp together for a few days!
The fire was still hot, so Ty whipped us up macaroni and cheese with broccoli for dinner. Noah loved being outside as we set up camp, and he fell asleep in our cozy tent shortly after. The "grown-ups" sat around the campfire awhile longer, catching up on each others lives. I could tell that Aaron and Ty were very happy to be united once again.